Nichols Breaks Big Sky Total Offense Record in 41-28 Victory

No. 18 Eagles cruise to seventh win as senior quarterback
passes for 380 and rushes for 75 to up his career total to 12,440
yards

A career-long 52-yard touchdown run was just part of a
sensational day for Eastern Washington University senior
quarterback Matt Nichols as he broke the Big Sky
Conference career record for total offense in 18th-ranked EWU's
easy 41-28 non-conference football victory over Southern Utah
Saturday (Nov. 14) at Eccles Coliseum in Cedar City, Utah.

Nichols passed for 380 yards and four touchdowns to finish with
455 yards of total offense and account for five TDs on the day. He
now has 12,440 yards in his 45-game career, breaking the
17-year-old record of 12,287 held by Weber State's Jamie Martin
(1989-92).

Next Saturday (Nov. 21), Eastern plays its final Big Sky
Conference game at Northern Arizona. The following day on Nov. 22
at noon Pacific time, first-round pairings are announced for the
NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs.

Nichols will remember the Southern Utah game not only for the
record, but for his long rush as well. Eastern opened a 21-0 lead
on his three touchdown passes to tight end Nathan
Overbay, and his scoring rush late in the third quarter
gave EWU a 28-7 cushion.

"It felt like it was a 105-yard run to me," said Nichols. "I was
pretty tired and had a side ache at the end of it. It was exciting
-- we were kind of talking about that play being a possibility. One
thing I haven't done enough this year is take off and run a little
bit, so it was good to do that successfully today."

Nichols now ranks seventh in NCAA Football Championship history
in career total yards, and moved into eighth with 11,747 passing
yards. He needs 460 yards to break the career passing record in the
46-year-old Big Sky Conference of 12,207 held by Martin.

"It's pretty awesome," said Nichols, who also broke EWU's career
record for rushing yards by a quarterback against USS and now has a
current total of 693. "The Big Sky record is one of those things
where it's exciting to hear and something I'll cherish, but right
now we are just focused on winning one more game and hopefully
getting our shot in the playoffs."

"It just shows his toughness and longevity," said Eastern head
coach Beau Baldwin. "A record like that shows a
lot of things. A lot of players have talent but get hurt along the
way, or this or that, but Matt has just been constant and one of
those guys week-in and week-out just brings it. He deserves the
record -- he has worked hard to get that and I am really proud of
him."

Eastern finished the Southern Utah game with 608 yards of total
offense, which was EWU's most since finishing with 626 two years
ago in a FCS Playoff victory over McNeese State. Sophomore running
back Taiwan Jones finished with 222 all-purpose
yards -- 77 rushing, 75 receiving and 70 on kickoff returns.

Jones set-up EWU's first score by returning the game's opening
kickoff 50 yards, and he added a touchdown both rushing and
receiving. He is now just 20 yards from the 1,000-yard rushing mark
for the season.

Senior wide receiver Tony Davis caught eight
passes for 106 yards. Overbay finished with six catches for 59
yards, and now has 11 touchdowns on the season.

Defensively, FCS tackles leader J.C. Sherritt
hit his average with 13 tackles, and also recovered a fumble.
Fellow linebackers Makai Borden and Bobby
Gentry each had 12 tackles, and Matt
Johnson had six tackles, a forced fumble and broke up a
pass.

"I was proud of both sides of the ball -- we were able to get an
early lead," said Baldwin. "Late in the game they scored a couple
times, but our defense was able to get a crucial stop on fourth
down and we were then able to punch it in. It was a great team
effort, and any time you go on the road and beat an undefeated home
team, you feel good about your team's overall effort."

Ranked 18th in this week's Sports Network FCS poll after a bye
week, the Eagles were coming off a 47-10 thumping of Portland State
in the "Showdown on the Sound" on Oct. 31 at Qwest Field in
Seattle, Wash. Southern Utah, meanwhile, was 4-5 after losing at
South Dakota 45-21 on last Saturday (Nov. 7). That game concluded
SUU's Great West Conference schedule as they finished 2-2.

In losing to the Eagles, the Thunderbirds suffered their first
loss at home after going 4-0 in Cedar City, including wins over
Dixie State (36-7), Texas State (38-16), North Dakota (35-10) and
UC Davis (56-35).

"We went up against a great team that was 4-0 at home, so we
knew it was going to be a tough challenge," added Baldwin. "They
just kept coming too -- it felt like a few times we were going to
put them away and they came right back at us."

Eastern is now tied for third in the Big Sky just
behind Weber State at 6-2, with Montana leading the way at
7-0. Montana State joins EWU at 5-2, and Northern Arizona is 4-3.
Besides EWU's season-ending game at NAU, another key upcoming
matchup is Montana at Montana State on Nov. 21.

The Eagles were ranked as high as 15th in the Sports Network
poll before losing 31-13 to then 21st-ranked Weber State (now
ranked 19th) and fell to 21st prior to losing 41-34 to the No. 3
Grizzlies (now second). Eastern has won its last three games by a
combined 123-62 margin, including a 35-24 Homecoming win over
Montana State on Oct. 24.

Eastern is trying to duplicate the season-ending four-game
winning streak Eastern had in both 2004 and 2007 when the Eagles
also advanced to the FCS Playoffs and registered first-round
upsets. In 2004, EWU won its final four regular season games before
knocking off Southern Illinois 35-31 in the playoffs. Three years
later, another four-game winning streak led to a 44-15 first-round
win over McNeese State.

Since the Big Sky was given an automatic berth in the NCAA
Playoffs in 1980, only Idaho (8-3 in 1983, 9-3 in 1994) has not
been given an at-large berth in the playoffs with a record of 8-3
or better. That compares to 26 at-large berths that were given to
league teams 8-3 or better, as well as EWU's 1992 team which was
7-3.